Town homes Okd for Roosevelt Road

OAK PARK — An 18-unit townhouse development will soon rise along Roosevelt Road in Oak Park in an area that had previously been dominated by commercial businesses.

The Oak Park Village Board on Monday approved a special-use permit for Clarence Square Townhomes in the 6600 block of Roosevelt Road.

The three-story townhouses, designed by Oak Park architect John Schiess, will replace a single-story commercial building.

The special-use permit was required to build residential town homes in a commercially zoned area.

Having townhouses on the north side of Roosevelt Road in Oak Park differs somewhat from a long-term proposal listed in the Roosevelt Road corridor study developed by Oak Park and Berwyn officials. That study, adopted by the Oak Park Village Board in March, called for condominiums to be built on the Oak Park side of Roosevelt and townhouses on the Berwyn side to the south.

The new townhouses were unanimously approved, although some trustees had previously expressed concerns about the need for affordable housing in the village. The town homes are expected to be about 2,800 square feet and be priced from $369,000 to $389,000.